Cheese Tasting: Session Five

Educational comments about each cheese are taken from various authors and sites on the web and are not my own.

It has been a long time since we did a cheese tasting but thanks to a recent Groupon for Whole Foods we could not pass up on the opportunity to eat more cheese.  We are at the stage where I should keep a list of which cheeses we have tried so we can avoid repeats.  I did manage to find three that were new to our taste buds.   We kept things simple this time and had a good Old Vine Zinfandel (Gnarly Head), slices of Gala apple, crackers, toasted Italian loaf, and an olive oil, parmesean cheese, fresh ground pepper dip.

Grayson Meadow Creek Cheese: (Virginia) is a cow's milk cheese that is reminiscent of taleggio or livarot cheese.  It is described as having a semi-soft, fine texture with very rich, almost beefy flavor with sweet nutty overtones and pungent aroma.  This cheese can stand on its own but is also good when served with breads, dried fruit, and acidic items such as tomatoes or cornichons.  Pairs well with full bodied white wines but is strong enough to balance a medium red wine.  Excellent with beer. This is a pungent cheese which can be somewhat off-putting if you do not care for "stinky" cheeses.  I found that as the cheese warmed it became too pungent for my liking.  It does have a nice nutty/tangy flavor and had a good creamy mouth feel.  Brad described it as stout, stinky, good.  Of the three cheeses this was my second choice and Brad's third.

Hirtenkase: (Germany) is a cow's milk cheese made in the Allgua area of Southern Germany.  It is a golden colored, dense-body cheese that is typically aged for eight months and has a firm texture.  The flavors are rustic and savory with  an earthy aroma.  It is similar in flavor and texture to parmigiano reggiano and aged gouda.  It is aged long enough to develop the protein crystals like parmigiano but it is creamier and not as dry or crumbly.  There is a nutty sweetness of cooked milk, almost like that of caramel.  Pairings include gewurztraminer, full bodied reds, or wheat beers and it is good with whole grain breads, fresh and dried fruits, like apples and figs.  It is very similar to parmigiano reggiano but not as salty or crumbly and did have a slight give to the cheese when bitten into that could be described as creamy.  I did pick up on flavors that after reading the description I would associate with being like a gouda or a swiss cheese.  Brad agreed with the assessment and while it was my favorite of the three it was his second favorite.  I would buy this cheese for snacking on in addition to my go to cheddars and goudas.

Chapel Hill Creamery Farmer's Cheese: (Chapel Hill) is a cow's milk cheese that is unripened.  The cheese is soft but dry and crumbly with flavors close to that of cottage cheese that can be tangy depending on milk used.  The cheese can be used in a variety of ways including as stuffing for blintzes or pierogies.  Or slice it very thin and roll it with smoked meats.  Either lighter reds such as pinot noir or blush wines pair well. I thought this was the most pungent of the three cheeses and it was very tangy, almost sour tasting to me.  It does have a soft cream/crumble type texture almost as if it might be spreadable on a cracker.  This was Brad's favorite and my least favorite I think because it reminded me slightly of goat cheese.

How to Eat Well with Little Effort or Expense When Staying in a Vacation Home

So we managed to get in four beautiful days at Hatteras this year before the evacuation for Hurricane Irene. Knowing that end of August is high risk we always get travel insurance so while disappointed about the short time we consider ourselves lucky to be visitors let down versus natives still struggling to clean up.

Although we are industrious cooks we tend to pair things back significantly during our annual vacation because it is a vacation and I am not keen on spending lots of time in a strange kitchen, without my pots, pans, knives, etc. cooking. We have also learned that going out to eat on the part of the Island we stay is very limited in terms of options and a couple of places can be hit or miss in terms of quality. So instead of spending money on lunch and dinner out we tend to eat in a lot but try to avoid extensive cooking. We manage that by careful menu planning and prepping foods prior to our vacation week.

So for breakfast we alternate between homemade banana bread and yogurts which travel fine in cooler and frozen prepared breakfast biscuits like Jimmy Deans Sausage Egg and Cheese.

For lunch we alternate between homemade chicken salad in wheat tortilla wraps or pasta salad. By pasta salad I mean the layered salad of pasta, lettuce, fresh mushrooms, diced ham and turkey, shredded cheese, whatever else you want veggie wise and topped with a pasta salad dressing which is a mayonnaise/sour cream/spicy mustard mixture. You can layer the salad a day before travel and keep the dressing in a separate container and it will keep well for a week.

Dinners are either grilled or some easy to prepare ahead meal that travels well.  For example, lasagna, made with homemade pasta can be just as satisfying on vacation as it is at home if you make it ahead and freeze it before baking. Frozen lasagna travels well, thaws by the time you decide to fix it during your stay and provides a second night of leftovers. We do cheat and take along a box of garlic seasoned Texas toast to be heated in the oven versus traveling with fresh bread, butter, and seasonings. 

For one grill night we always take steaks, which we freeze with the marinade inside the ziplock so as it thaws it already marinating. Asparagus and potatoes travel well and require only olive oil and salt and pepper for seasoning when grilled. This meal has become Brad’s birthday dinner because he enjoys grilling steaks. Our other grill dinner consists of whatever we can buy fresh caught from one of the local seafood markets. This year we picked Harbor House Seafood Market run by Vicki Harrison. It is a family run business so I know that the flounder we purchased were caught by Vicki’s son Graham the night before. We also bought dry scallops of substantial size.  We seasoned the scallops with olive oil salt and pepper and the same for the flounder adding in a squeeze of fresh lime juice (limes travel well and are required for nightly gin and tonics on the balcony).  We served the fish and scallops with a prepared box of Near East Toasted Almond Rice Pilaf (which only requires water and olive oil to make). The flounder fillets were large and the resulting leftovers were pan seared to rewarm and then combined with lettuce and a spiked up version of our pasta salad dressing and wrapped in flour tortillas to make our own fish soft tacos for lunch one day.

So with this menu we manage to save money and eat really well with little effort once we arrive.  My other tip is make ahead daiquiris.  I start saving water bottles months ahead of the trip and then make up three or four batches of strawberry daiquiris and margaritas.  Pour into the bottles and pop into the freezer a week before travel and they serves as ice in your cooler.  Keep in the freezer once you arrive and they thaw to a good drinking consistency in about 45 minutes on the beach.  So you don't have to use funny tasting beach ice or buy the expensive bags of ice on vacation or worry whether the blender in the rental works.